Fire-box.



PATENTED JAN. 17, 1905'.

G. w, BUTCHER.

FIRE BOX.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, 1904.

NrrEn STATES E'atented January 17, 1905.

GEORGE W. BUTCHER, OF SAN ANTONIC), TEXAS.

FIRE-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 780,088, dated January 1'7, 1905.

Application filed June 21, 1904. Serial No. 213,557.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BUTCHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Antonio, in the county of Bexar and State of Texas, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fire-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to fire-boxes for loco motives and other oil-burning furnaces, and more particularly to the bricking of such fireboxes.

The invention aims to protect the most exposed parts of the fire-box from the intense heat with a view of prolonging the usefulness of such parts, to obviate concentration of the blaze-vi. a, retard and deflect the same, so as to spread the heat evenly throughout the fire-box and use the heatingsurface to the best advantage-and to promote combustion by thoroughly mixing atoms of oil with atmospheric air and exposing the mixture to a large and highly-heated surface area.

Other advantageous features of the invention will be fully understood from the following description and claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a horizontal section taken through a locomotive lire-box in a plane above my novel bricking. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section taken in the plane indicated by the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken in the plane indicated by the line 3 3 of Fig. .2, and Fig. 4 is a detail longitudinal section illustrative of a modilieation hereinafter referred to.

Referring by letter to the said drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1 to 3 thereof, A is the front wall, and B B the side walls, of my novel bricking. The Wall A is an imperforate wall of fire-brick and is built against the tube-sheet a about the proportional height illustrated in Fig. 2, so as to protect the said tube-sheet from direct contact with the intense heat. The side walls B B are built against the side sheets 6, covering the mud ring, and when desired may extend above the same. The said side walls B, like the front wall A, are formed of fire-brick, and they have for their purpose to protect the said side heat present in the fire-box.

sheets 5 from direct contact with the intense U is the inner pan of the lire-box, which is designed to exclude the atmospheric air except at the points hereinafter described. The said pan is by preference made up of a metal frame C and a lining D, of lirebrick, arranged on the frame with a view of protecting the same from the intense heat, and it is provided with openings E and F for the admission of air, the opening E being arranged at the rear end of the pan and the opening F immediately in rear of the rearward perforated wall G, as best shown in Fig. 2. The metal frame U of the inner pan serves, as will be readily observed, to support the bricking of the lire-box. The wall G, which is of fire-brick, extends transversely entirely across the lire-box, and between it and the imperforate wall A is arranged aseeond perforated wallH, also of lirebrick, the perforations of which may be arranged in alinement or out of alinement with those of the wall G, as desired. In virtue of the arrangement of the walls G in the positions described it will be observed that the flame from the burner, which is generally located in the rear portion of the lire-box. is retarded and deflected, and the heat is therebyspread more evenly throughout the fire-box, and the heating-surface of the latter is utilized to the best advantage. In this connection it will be noticed that the space I between the perforated wall H and the imperforate wall A serves as a chimney for the flames and hot gases which enter it, and hence a portion of the heat is permitted to rise directly to the fines of the boiler, while the remainder thereof is thrown back or caused to recoil and lill the box with heated gases and flame equally throughout its area. Moreover, it will be observed that by arranging the lower openings of the walls G H in a staggering manner and the openings in the uppermost tiers of said walls in alinement, as shown in Fig. 3, the gases will pass freely through the upper openings of the walls into the upper part of the space I. and by so doing will create a draft in the said space, which in turn will draw the gases through the staggered lower openings of the walls and thoroughly mix and heat the same. The thorough.

heating of the gases is assured by the large surface area presented to the gases by the highlyheated perforated walls, and hence the gases burn with but aminimum amount of smoke and yet prod uce a high degree of heat. In virtue of atmospheric air being excluded from the firebox, except at the points E and F,cold air is prevented from reaching and injuring the sheets and plates of the fire-box. The air admitted through the openings E and F is mixed with the burning gases and is thoroughly heated by such gases and by coming in contact with the highly-heated walls G H before it contacts with the sheets of the fire-box. From this it follows that while cold air is prevented from reaching and injuring the sheets and plates of the fire-box an ample supply of oxygen is admitted to supportperfect combustion. The fuel is injected through the rear wall of the fire-box in a horizontal plane slightly above the opening E in lining D.

In Fig. A of the drawings I have shown a modification in which but one perforated wall (lettered G) is employed. The said wall G is arranged immediately in front of the air-admission opening F, and between it and the imperforate or flash wall A is arranged a passage I, which serves as an uptake for the flames and heated gases. The wall Gr serves the same purpose as the two walls G H, but is less efficient because of the staggered lower openings in the walls G H, before described.

\Vhile I have described my novel bricking as arranged in the fire box of an oil-burning locomotive, I desire it distinctly understood that the said bricking may be used in the firebox of any oil-burning furnace without involving a departure from my invention.

While my novel bricking is possessed of the practical advantages which I have ascribed to it, it will be noticed that the said bricking is no more expensive than the ordinary bricking extant; also that when the bricks of my improvement are laid in fire-clay and properly braced they are calculated to resist or withstand the shocks and jars to which bricks in the fire-boxes of locomotives are ordinarily subjected.

I have entered into a detailed description of the construction and relative arrangement of parts embraced in the present and preferred embodiments of my invention in order to impart a full, clear, and exact understanding of the said embodiments. I do not desire, however, to be understood as confining myself to such specific construction and relative arrangement of parts, as such changes or modifications may be made in practice as fairly fall within the scope of my invention as claimed.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. A fire-box having an inner pan lined with fire-brick, an opening E, at the rear end of the pan, for the admission of air, an opening F, at the forward portion of the pan, for the admission of air, an imperforate flash-wall of fire-brick, and a perforated wall of fire-brick arranged in a plane between the opening F and the flash-wall.

2. A fire-box having an opening in its bottom, a sheet carrying tubes, an imperforate flash-wall arranged against the said tube-sheet, below the tubes, and a perforated wall arranged in a plane between the opening in the bottom of the box and the flash-wall.

3. A fire-box having an inner pan lined with fire-brick, an opening E, at the rear end of the pan, for the admission of air, an opening F, at the forward portion of the pan, for the admission of air, a sheet carrying tubes, an imperforate flash-wall of fire-brick arranged against the tube-sheet, and a perforated wall of fire-brick arranged in a plane between the opening F and the flash-wall.

4. A fire-box having an imperforate flashwall of fire-brick, and also having a bottom opening for the admission of air, and perforated walls of fire-brick arranged in planes between the bottom opening and the flash-wall; the lower openings of the said perforated walls being staggered, and the upper openings thereof disposed in alinement with each other for the purpose set forth.

5. A lire-box having an inner pan lined with fire-brick, an opening E, at the rear end of the pan, for the admission of air, an opening F at the forward portion of the pan, for the admission of air, a sheet carrying tubes, a flash-wall of fire-brick arranged against the tube-sheet; the said flash-wall being imperforate, and perforated walls of fire-brick arranged in planes between the opening F and the flash-wall; the lower openings of the said perforated walls being staggered, and the upper openings thereof disposed in alinement with each other for the purpose set forth.

6. A fire-box having an inner pan lined with fire-brick, side walls of fire-brick supported by said pan, an opening E at one end of the pan for the admission of air, an opening F at the opposite end of the pan for the admission of air, an imperforate flash-wall of fire-brick, and perforated walls of fire-brick arranged in planes between the opening F and the flashwall; the lower openings of the said perforated walls being staggered and the upper openings thereof disposed in alinement with each other for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE WV. BUTCHER. IVitnesses:

F. E. GALLAGER, R. O. McGoRMAcK. 

